Lakers news: Team reportedly ‘warned’ Dwight Howard before signing him

Over the last few weeks as Dwight Howard’s camp and the Los Angeles Lakers were in contact with each other, we’ve heard a lot about a contrite Howard who is committed to doing “whatever it takes” to helping the team win and change his perception with Lakers fans, as well as the NBA at large. But now that the reunion is official, the Lakers are also positioning themselves as the adults in the room and ones that will have a zero tolerance policy for any behavior that would hurt the team.

The Lakers made Howard’s deal non-guaranteed with the guarantee date not coming until January. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Howard has been warned.

Howard came to meet Lakers after dropping 25 pounds; showed his back was healthy. Lakers want him to protect rim/rebound in limited role. There was sense Howard realized he hit "rock bottom" and had been humbled. Still they'll judge him on actions, not words. He's been warned.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 23, 2019

Since leaving the Houston Rockets in 2016, Howard has bounced around the league on relatively unassuming teams with mediocre-to-low expectations. That isn’t the case this season as the Lakers have the second best odds to win the championship behind the neighboring Clippers. Should Howard find a return to form as a defender and rebounder, that would give them a major boost at the center spot during the regular season to allow Anthony Davis to avoid a beating in the regular season as he and the Lakers want. But to get there, Dwight also has to be on his best behavior. With LeBron James around him for the first time, it’s going to be very interesting to see how he handles a return to the spotlight and the Lakers are making sure they can bail if they need to.